An Evening with Tuppence Middleton

Tuppence Middleton is an actress and writer best known for her roles on the screen in Downton Abbey and Netflix's Sense8, as well as her wildly successful stint on the stage in the role of Elizabeth Taylor in The Motive and The Cue, which won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play.

Her first book Scorpions is a beautifully written, moving and often darkly funny memoir charting the raw realities of living with OCD.

My mind is full of scorpions. A cerebral itch, impossible to scratch. I know these creatures well, but they know me better. They answer to another name, this nest of scorpions, the writhing black mass that lives inside my head...

For as long as Tuppence Middleton can remember, she has struggled with obsessive thoughts and compulsions. She visualises her OCD as scorpions inhabiting her mind, something to be hidden that impacts her life daily:

Have I killed my cat? When was the last time that person in front of me vomited? How many people have touched this door handle since it was cleaned? Should I tap the outside of the airplane to save my loved ones from harm?

'With unpretentious prose, Tuppence Middleton illuminates how devastating and all-encompassing this illness can be. Unflinchingly frank, and remarkably honest.' Claire Fuller

'Scorpions is about living with OCD, but it's also about living full stop. Tuppence Middleton has written a brilliantly immersive, funny, brave, deeply human book, brimming with intelligence and creativity.' Lisa Owens